Judge lifts campaign spending limits in Pittsburgh mayoral race

Voters can now expect a war of television advertising in the city's mayoral race. The cost of winning the office may go even higher, now that a judge has ruled that all limits on campaign spending in this year's race for mayor of Pittsburgh are lifted.

It was an unexpected twist when Judge Joseph James ruled that City Controller Michael Lamb, who dropped out of the mayor's race, contributed more than $50,000 of his own money to his campaign. It triggered a provision lifting all contribution limits.

The so-called "millionaire's provision" was meant to counter any person of great wealth gaining an advantage in a campaign by tapping into their personal wealth.

In this case, it means that mayoral candidate and former State Auditor General Jack Wagner can use nearly $350,000 left over from his statewide races.

As he left the courtroom, Wagner said, "What it means is we get back to talking about issues in the campaign -- jobs, a quality public education system and fixing city government."

Now, mayoral candidate and City Councilman Bill Peduto will also get to accept donations unlimited by size in this year's race.

Peduto was not in the courtroom due to a lengthy City Council meeting, but he said later, "We played by the rules, the rules that were there. Other candidates in this race chose not to, and now that the judge has made the decision that says there are no limits, then we'll campaign on those rules."

Peduto's campaign had gone to court asking the judge to enforce a provision he said barred Wagner from using his war chest from previous races. The judge, at first, agreed that the city law would have prohibited Wagner from using that money, but when Wagner's attorneys then argued that the size of former mayoral candidate Lamb's contribution had triggered the lifting of the limits, the judge agreed.

"That ordinance was poorly written. The judge said so. It does not apply to this election and it's time to move on. Obviously it's my intention to win this race," said Wagner.

When reporters asked Peduto if there was anyone whose contributions he would decline, Peduto answered, "Oh, yes. There are many people in this town I would not put on my host committee or finance team. Fortunately, they've all gone to the Wagner camp."

One potential contributor a lot of people will be watching is Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. He has quite a political contribution war chest available after dropping out of the race.

It remains to be seen if Ravenstahl will put his money into the race, backing Jack Wagner. Peduto is a longtime political rival of Ravenstahl, and would be an unlikely beneficiary.

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